Con-centric cocktail shrimp container

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a con-centric cocktail shrimp container including: an outer container comprising an outer base, an inner container comprising an inner base, and a cover, wherein the outer base comprises an outer base serving member having a substantially planar central portion, an outer sidewall extending generally upwardly and outwardly therefrom and an outer flange portion extending outwardly from the inner side wall, wherein the inner base comprises an inner base serving member having a substantially planar central portion, an inner sidewall extending generally upwardly and outwardly therefrom and an inner flange portion extending outwardly from the inner side wall, wherein the cover may be adapted to releasably engage the outer container.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to food containers and, moreparticularly, to cocktail shrimps food containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Food packaging in general are low in cost, and easy to use. Commonlyused food containers comprise a base body and a cover, wherein the covermaybe partially attached to the base body, or the cover may becompletely detachable from the base. For the majority of the foodcontainers, the base bode defines one compartment wherein the foodcontents will be enclosed. The conventional food container for packagingthe cocktail shrimps are similarly configured that the shrimps arearranged in one compartment, and a cup of shrimp sauce is loosely placedin the container. When the container is shaken, the sauce cup may bemoved, so the arrangement may be disturbed and the sauce be sprinkledout.

The food container of the present invention is an improvement overconventional cocktail shrimp containers in that it features an innercontainer affixed to the outer container and the outer container andinner container are con-centric. In this configuration, the annularspace defined by the outer container and inner container may be filledwith shrimp sauce, and the heads of the shrimps will be dipped into thesauce while the tails of the shrimps will be collected in the spacedefined by the inner container. The con-centric configuration enablesthe most possible capacity of the container and provides stability ofthe packaging.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides a con-centric cocktailshrimp container including: an outer container comprising an outer base,an inner container comprising an inner base, and a cover, wherein theouter base comprises an outer base serving member having a substantiallyplanar central portion, an outer sidewall extending generally upwardlyand outwardly therefrom and an outer flange portion extending outwardlyfrom the inner side wall, wherein the inner base comprises an inner baseserving member having a substantially planar central portion, an innersidewall extending generally upwardly and outwardly therefrom and aninner flange portion extending outwardly from the inner side wall,wherein the cover may be adapted to releasably engage the outercontainer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention is described in detail below with reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein like numerals designate similar parts andwherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of con-centric cocktail shrimp containerproduced in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional diagram of con-centric cocktail shrimp containerillustrating the relative dimensions and shapes;

FIG. 3 is a sectional detail showing an inner sidewall integratedconnected with the outer base in accordance with one alternativeembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional detail showing an inner base removably affixed tothe outer base in accordance with one alternative embodiment of thepresent invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the present invention provided a container10 including an outer container 20 comprising an outer base 21, an innercontainer 30, and a cover 40, wherein the outer container 20 comprisesthe outer base 21 having a substantially planar circular portion, anouter sidewall 22 extending generally upwardly therefrom and an outerrim portion 24 extending outwardly from the outer side wall 22; whereinthe inner container 30 comprises the inner base 31 having asubstantially planar circular portion, an inner sidewall 32 extendinggenerally upwardly and outwardly therefrom and an inner rim portion 33extending outwardly from the inner side wall 32, wherein the inner base31 is affixed to the outer base 21, preferably by glue, wherein theinner base 31 and the outer base 21 is con-centric, wherein the cover 40may be adapted to releasably engage the outer container 20.

As seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in a preferred embodiment, the outersidewall 22 further comprises an annular portion 23 extrudes outwardlyat the upper portion of the outer sidewall 22 connected with the outerrim portion 24 wherein the outer rim portion 24 is in reversed U shape.Cover 40 has a cover circular central flat surface 43 raises from a domeportion 42 which is connected to a U shaped cover annular portion 44,which is in turn connected with a reversed U shaped cover rim portion41. The outer rim portion 24 and the cover rim portion 41 can be pressedagainst each other to seal the container 10, and then can be releasefrom each other release the cover 40 from the outer container 20.

The seal formed by the cover rim portion 41 and the outer rim portion 24is substantially liquid-proof, whereas the materials forming the outercontainer, inner container and the cover are resilient and flexible.These materials are also preferably selected so as to be suitable forheating or re-heating the contained food, for example, by way of aconventional or microwave oven or by heat lamps and so forth. Thecontainers of the invention may be made by any suitable technique, thatis, techniques employed for forming plastics. The outer container 20,the inner container 30, and the cover 40 generally have wall calipers offrom about 10 to about 50 mils, whereas a wall caliper of from about 15to about 25 mils is somewhat typical.

As seen in FIG. 2, the outer sidewall 22 further comprises outersidewall inner surface 222 and outer sidewall outer surface 221. Theinner sidewall 32 further comprises inner sidewall inner surface 322 andinner sidewall outer surface 321. The inner sidewall inner surface 322and the inner base upper surface define an inner cavity 300. The innersidewall outer surface 321, the outer sidewall inner surface 222 and apart of the outer base upper surface form an outer annular space 200. Ina preferred embodiment, the food container 10 of the present inventionwill be used for containing cocktail shrimps. When in use, the lowerportion of the outer annular space 200 will contain sauce and/or spices,and the heads of the shrimps will be dipped into the sauce, while thetails of the shrimps will be sustained in the inner cavity 300. Theadvantage of the configuration of the present invention is to provide aconvenient packing arrangement, so that the tails of the cocktail shrimpwill be kept from the sauce so when the user pick up the shrimp by thetail, their hands will be clean, while the heads of the shrimps will beable to contact the sauce for the flavors.

The article made according to the present invention may have anyparticular size as desired by the user so long as the relative outercontainer, con-centric inner container and cover features are present.FIG. 2 is an exemplary illustration of the possible dimensions of thecontainer 10, wherein the outward diameter of the outer container Ro1 is4⅝″, wherein the outer base diameter Ro2 is 4″, wherein the outwarddiameter of the cover Rc2 is 4⅝″, wherein the outward diameter of thecover annular portion Rc3 is 4¼″, wherein diameter of the cover circularcentral flat surface Rc1 is 2½″, wherein the outward diameter of theinner container Ri1 is 2½″, wherein the inner base diameter Ri2 is 1¾″,wherein the height of the outer container Ho is 1¾″, wherein the heightof the inner container Hi is 1¼″, wherein the height of the cover Hc is1″, wherein the height of the cover rim portion Hc1 is 3/16″, the heightof the cover annular portion Hc2 is 7/16″.

FIG. 3 presents an alternative embodiment of the present invention,wherein the inner sidewall 32′ is integrated connected with the outerbase 21′, wherein the inner sidewall 32′ and the outer base 21 arecon-centric.

FIG. 4 presents another alternative embodiment of the present invention,wherein the outer base 21″ further comprises a bump 211″, wherein theinner base 31″ further comprises a recess 311″, wherein the bump 211″and recess 311″ match each other and can be pressed together to fix theinner base 31″ to the outer base 21″.

Although only a single or few exemplary embodiments of this inventionhave been described in detail above, those skilled in the art willreadily appreciate that many modifications are possible in the exemplaryembodiment(s) without materially departing from the novel teachings andadvantages of this invention. Accordingly, all such modifications areintended to be included without departing from the scope or spirit ofthe invention as defined in the following claims.

1. A food container comprising: an outer container comprising an outerbase having a substantially planar circular portion, an annular outersidewall extending generally upwardly there from and an outer rimportion extending outwardly from the annular outer sidewall; an innercontainer comprising an inner base having a substantially planarcircular portion, an annular inner sidewall extending generally upwardlyand outwardly there from; a cover having a cover rim portion; whereinthe inner container is affixed to the outer container, wherein the innerbase is con-centric with the outer base; wherein the cover rim portionare adapted to releasably engage the outer rim portion.
 2. The foodcontainer according to claim 1, wherein the outer rim portion of theouter container is in reversed U-shape, wherein the cover rim portion ofthe cover is in reversed U-shape.
 3. The food container according toclaim 1, wherein the inner container further comprises an inner rimportion.
 4. The food container according to claim 1, wherein the coverfurther comprises a cover circular central flat surface, a dome portion,and a cover annular portion.
 5. The food container according to claim 1,wherein the inner base is glued to the outer base.
 6. The food containeraccording to claim 1, wherein the outer base further comprises a bump,wherein the inner base further comprises a recess, wherein the innercontainer is affixed to the outer container when the bump is pressedinto the recess, whereby the inner base is con-centric with the outerbase.
 7. The food container according to claim 1, wherein said baseserving member is fabricated from a thermoplastic material.
 8. The foodcontainer according to claim 4, wherein the outward diameter of theouter container is 4⅝″, wherein the outer base diameter is 4″, whereinthe outward diameter of the cover is 4⅝″, wherein the outward diameterof the cover annular portion is 4¼″, wherein diameter of the covercircular central flat surface is 2½″, wherein the outward diameter ofthe inner container is 2½″, wherein the inner base diameter is 1¾″,wherein the height of the outer container is 1¾″, wherein the height ofthe inner container is 1¼″, wherein the height of the cover is 1″,wherein the height of the cover rim portion is 3/16″, the height of thecover annular portion is 7/16″.
 9. A food container comprising: an outercontainer comprising an outer base having a substantially planarcircular portion, an annular outer sidewall extending generally upwardlythere from and an outer rim portion extending outwardly from the outersidewall; an inner portion comprising an annular inner sidewallintegrated connected with the outer base and extending generallyupwardly and outwardly from the outer base; a cover having a cover rimportion; wherein the annular inner sidewall is con-centric with theouter base and the outer sidewall; wherein the cover rim portion may beadapted to releasably engage the outer rim portion.
 10. The foodcontainer according to claim 9, wherein the outer rim portion of theouter container is in reversed U-shape, wherein the cover rim portion ofthe cover is in reversed U-shape.
 11. The food container according toclaim 9, wherein the inner portion further comprises an inner rimportion.
 12. The food container according to claim 9, wherein the coverfurther comprises a cover circular central flat surface, a dome portion,and a cover annular portion.
 13. The food container according to claim9, wherein said base serving member is fabricated from a thermoplasticmaterial.
 14. A food container for containing cocktail shrimps andsauce, comprising: an outer container comprising an outer base having asubstantially planar circular portion, an outer sidewall extendinggenerally upwardly there from and an outer rim portion extendingoutwardly from the outer sidewall; an inner container comprising aninner base having a substantially planar circular portion, an innersidewall extending generally upwardly and outwardly there from; a coverhaving a cover rim portion; wherein the inner container is affixed tothe outer container, wherein the inner base is con-centric with theouter base; wherein the cover rim portion may be adapted to releasablyengage the outer rim portion; wherein the outer sidewall furthercomprises outer sidewall inner surface and outer sidewall outer surface,wherein the inner sidewall further comprises inner sidewall innersurface and inner sidewall outer surface; wherein the inner sidewallinner surface and the inner base upper surface define an inner cavity;wherein the inner sidewall outer surface, the outer sidewall innersurface and a part of the outer base upper surface form an outer annularspace; wherein the lower portion of the outer annular space containssauces, and the heads of the shrimps are dipped into the sauces, whereinthe tails of the shrimps will be sustained in the inner cavity.
 15. Thefood container according to claim 14, wherein the outer rim portion ofthe outer container is in reversed U-shape, wherein the cover rimportion of the cover is in reversed U-shape.
 16. The food containeraccording to claim 14, wherein the inner container further comprises aninner rim portion.
 17. The food container according to claim 14, whereinthe cover further comprises a cover circular central flat surface, adome portion, and a cover annular portion.
 18. The food containeraccording to claim 14, wherein said base serving member is fabricatedfrom a thermoplastic material.
 19. The food container according to claim17, wherein the outward diameter of the outer container is 4⅝″, whereinthe outer base diameter is 4″, wherein the outward diameter of the coveris 4⅝″, wherein the outward diameter of the cover annular portion is4¼″, wherein diameter of the cover circular central flat surface is 2½41, wherein the outward diameter of the inner container is 2½″, whereinthe inner base diameter is 1¾″, wherein the height of the outercontainer is 1¾″, wherein the height of the inner container is 1¼″,wherein the height of the cover is 1″, wherein the height of the coverrim portion is 3/16″, the height of the cover annular portion is 7/16″.